What is BPO Business Process Outsourcing?

A guide for navigating BPO meaning, services, offerings, and benefits

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of non-primary business activities and functions to a third-party provider. BPO services include payroll, human resources (HR), accounting and customer/call center relations.

BPO is also known as Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES). Often the business processes are information technology-based and are referred to as ITES-BPO, where ITES stands for Information Technology Enabled Service.
Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of the business process outsourcing industry.

BPO Business Process Outsourcing Services

BPO Business Process Outsourcing services can be divided into back office outsourcing and front office outsourcing.

BPO Solutions and Options

BPO Business Process Outsourcing services can be contracted locally, in a nearby country, and an outside country.

Onshore Outsourcing: Onshore outsourcing (also called domestic outsourcing) is the obtaining of services from someone outside a company but within the same country.

Nearshore Outsourcing: Nearshore outsourcing is the practice of getting work done or services performed by people in neighboring countries rather than in your own country.

Offshore Outsourcing: Offshore outsourcing, a type of business process outsourcing (BPO), is the exporting of IT-related work from the United States and other developed countries to areas of the world where there is both political stability and lower labor costs or tax savings.

BPO Business Process Outsourcing Benefits and Advantages

BPO Business Process Outsourcing offers multiple advantages.

Cost Reduction: if somehow you have stumbled upon the need for BPO services, it is likely you are looking to continue to build the integrity of your business. In this case, BPO can offer your organization a financial strategy to cut cost without having to sacrifice quality.

Focus on your Business: Most business that seek Business Process Outsourcing BPO services are looking to expand their current products and services but do not have the time or resources to do so. BPO services can offer organizations the opportunity to free up time to focus on their core offerings.

Improved Productivity: For the most part, BPO Companies have worked on their craft, mastered their process, and are actively working with the best technology and resources. By doing so, they can draw the most optimal performance and productivity out of their workforce.

Access to state of the art process and technology resources: Some of the perks of outsourcing services to a BPO company are knowing you are in the right hands. BPO companies are constantly working on improving their workforce and facilities by adopting the most recent technologies, practices, and assets to run an even more improved machine.

Events can be a great way to build local, national, and global ventures and ultimately, build tech communities along the way.

Ability to reassign resources: If you have decided to jump on board with BPO services, you will more than likely have resources working in mail, printing, check writing, rebate fulfillment, and other paper-driven tasks. By choosing a BPO provider you can reallocate resources, cut cost on task, and use either office or warehouse space for additional improvements.

What you should really take away

If you need to improve on these main levers including cost reduction, focus on your business, improve productivity, access to state of the art processes and technology, and reassign resources, you might want to consider diving more into BPO offerings. At the end of the day, you want to meet the needs of your business and maintain financial stability for future growth.

I hope this article helped you navigate what the meaning of BPO is, types of services, options/offerings, and advantages to this outsourcing strategy.